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What Will Customers Look Like in 2020?

July 27, 2017

It’s a mere three years away, but given how much has changed since 2014 it’s safe to assume the business world will change in significant ways by 2020.

What new social media channels will be developed? Will they be text-based like Twitter, or image-based like Instagram? Even in the last three years, social media growth has let people process information faster than ever and make quick decisions about where to lay their loyalties as a customer. Snapchat recently debuted a feature that allows users to add a link to their photos and videos, making it easier than ever to buy products recommended by influencers. Perhaps a new social media phenomenon is being brewed up in a dorm room somewhere as you read this, and will have transformed the internet by 2020.

So, what will your customers look like in 2020? For one, your customer base will be younger. Generation Z will account for 40% of global consumers, due entirely to the younger populations of developing and newly-developed countries around the world. Companies will have to consider how to adapt to keep the younger sectors of the population engaged with their brand. How will you put the customer experience first?

What’s more, customers will be more informed than ever in 2020. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2014 just over half the U.S. population owned a smartphone. Today, more than three quarters do. Can we expect 85% by 2020? Regardless of the numbers, your customers will do their research on your products before they buy. There will be higher expectations of personalized customer experiences, in large part due to AI structures in place behind the scenes. As a result, omnichannel customer experience will start to become the norm in 2020, where a customer’s experience in-store will pick up where it left off on any online channel. Are you ready?

As for Language I/O, we will continue to provide innovative, cost-saving, multilingual support technologies to help you communicate with your customers. Whatever those customers look like in 2020.